A new micro home designed in British Columbia, Canada has managed to be sustainable and adaptable while also being remarkably affordable. Better still, the home can be exported in a flat pack and easily assembled in almost any location around the world.

NOMAD is a tiny prefabricated house created by Vancouver-based designer Ian Lorne Kent, who sought to develop a moveable home for an affordable price under $30,000. The cost-effective dwelling features a living/dining area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, all of which fit into into a 10 foot by 10 foot space and which can be assembled by two people in less than a week.

The designer explained that effective interior design and the correct use of natural light allowed him to make a space of a size feel comfortable.

“My goal was to produce an efficient yet cosy home with minimal impact on yard space and the environment,” he said.

The project highlights a new trend in housing that efficiently dovetails architecture and furniture, eliminating unnecessary space and maximizing room capacity. For example, the staircase connecting the ground floor and the first level was designed to also serve as shelves and bench in the kitchen.

The floor plan is only 100 square feet and includes a living/dining space, an integrated kitchen and a bathroom.

The house is made of insulated metal structural panels and the exterior finish is made of galvanized metal siding. The windows are vinyl-framed and double glazed to help maintain the interior temperature at comfortable levels and save energy in heating and cooling, making the home more energy efficient.

The ground level features a living/dining space connected to an outdoor deck through glass sliding doors, an integrated kitchen and a bathroom. The sleeping area in on the upper floor.

The sleeping area.

The floors and furniture are wood laminate, and the walls are made of pre-finished metal panels. All the lighting is LED, and solar panels can be added to the basic model to make the house even more eco-friendly.

The house can also be fitted to include a pre-engineered grey water system and rain water collector system.

Ground Floor Level.

The home was designed to be flexible, allowing it to adapt to different levels of available service hook-ups, including gas, water and electricity, to completely off-grid living. True to its name, NOMAD can be built in almost any location, and it was designed to be termite, moisture, and fire resistant.

Mezzanine level.

The micro home can also be adapted to fit many uses, such as a backyard studio, a home office space, an extra guest room, and quarters for students or employees. In addition, it can supply the needs of emergency or charitable low-income housing as it is easy to transport to remote communities or areas needing disaster relief. It can also create affordable housing alternatives for developing nations, where the unit could be used alone or combined with others to create a larger living space.

The house was designed to be transported in a flat pack and easily assembled in less than a week.

I love the idea of dense small houses, hotel pods etc. however I can’t see them as long term solutions. It seems as though the smaller we go (tiny apartments in skyscrapers) the market is purely working to provide homes where you sleep and eat rather than a space that has a little extra room for retreating to. Love the concept though.